Kenya overwhelmingly approved a new Constitution on 4 August 2010 after a long 20-year historic journey. The new law brings renewed optimism for change, more so ahead of the general elections scheduled for 2012. However, in the backdrop of this significant achievement, there lie humanitarian needs and challenges that require redress. The humanitarian partners’ shift towards developing a longer-term appeal strategy covering three years, from 2011 to 2013, emanates from the understanding that the country faces both distinct and inter-dependent humanitarian phases that require appropriate responses to address immediate emergency priorities, and medium- to longer-term requirements.

The humanitarian strategy is informed by a combination of underlying humanitarian issues that include: the impact of climate change on food security and livelihoods; the burden of endemic diseases and high malnutrition; and inter-communal resource-based conflicts. The growing phenomenon of urban vulnerability; the socio-economic dynamics of refugee camps influenced by the situation in Somalia and Sudan; and humanitarian needs of a residual caseload of displaced populations resulting from the 2008 post-election violence (PEV) plus needs emanating from disasters such as floods and mudslides are another set of inter-related drivers of humanitarian needs. The frequent incidents of cross-border insecurity which impede humanitarian operations mainly in the North Eastern Province of Kenya and ethno-political tensions related to issues of accountability add to the key factors that encapsulate the present humanitarian situation in the country.

The successive good performances of the October-November-December 2009 (“short”) rains and March-April-May 2010 (“long”) rains resulted in good crop performance and pasture regeneration in most parts of the country, leading to the reduction of food aid beneficiaries from 3.8 million (end of 2009) to 1.6 (mid-2010) and 1.2 million currently according the 2010 Long Rains Assessment (LRA) report. While household food security and nutrition have improved somewhat thanks to improved rainfall and increased coverage of nutrition services, impact on recovery is uneven and moderated by persistent high food prices and the cumulative effects of the succession of poor seasons. Malnutrition in women and children (boys and girls) remains a serious public health concern in Kenya, particularly in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) and urban poor areas. The forecast of an impending La Niña, which would cause dry weather from October 2010 through February 2011, is expected to reverse food security gains and compromise food security in the northern and eastern parts of Kenya that are still recovering from previous failed seasons.

The high influxes of refugees from countries such as Somalia and Sudan that face protracted or latent conflicts challenge the humanitarian community and the host country significantly. As of October 2010, Kenya was host to 412,193 refugees, and humanitarian agencies project that the refugee population will increase to 455,500 by the end of 2010. The presence of more refugees in Dadaab and Kakuma has aggravated competition for scarce resources. The relationship between the host communities and refugees has at times suffered due to this competition. Plans are underway to implement a number of host community projects in Kakuma and Dadaab, which are expected to improve the relationship between the host communities and refugees, and with humanitarian agencies by extension.

At the same time, a myriad of factors including enduring rural poverty continue to trigger rural-urban migration. The rapid urbanization has potentially increased disaster vulnerability and generated humanitarian needs that require a multi-sectoral response for highly vulnerable urban people.

Expected drought conditions are likely to lead to food insecurity and water scarcity which may exacerbate the high malnutrition rates. An estimated 250,000 children under five are suffering from moderate acute malnutrition and 40,000 from severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in the country. High-impact nutrition interventions, therefore, remain a priority. The threat of another widespread cholera epidemic in the country remains a concern. The rates of infection and deaths as of September 2010 have markedly decreased from 8,383 cases to 3,354 as compared to the same period last year, and the case fatality reduced from 2.3% to 2.1%. However, cholera has persisted in the country since 2006 and its eradication is unlikely unless concerted efforts are made towards addressing the underlying causes of the disease outbreak – access to basic water and sanitation, poor nutrition, and weak health infrastructures. The HIV epidemic also continues to be a challenge for Kenya, with some 1.4 million people being infected by the virus, 6.3% of the total population.

Coordination remains at the heart of humanitarian response. The new Constitution gives way for the creation of new institutions and new boundaries that delineate 47 counties (instead of districts) and an additional 80 constituencies. The creation of counties may potentially pose “teething problems” for field-level humanitarian coordination. Strong governance structures are required to steer the new counties to foster better coordination.

In view of the aforementioned broad underlying humanitarian issues, humanitarian partners in Kenya are basing their activities on four over-arching strategic objectives:

• Highly vulnerable populations affected by natural and man-made disasters receive timely and coordinated life-saving humanitarian assistance and protection based on assessed needs and employing a human rights-based approach.
• Ensure the early recovery of populations affected by natural and man-made disasters is sustained and support the further integration of recovery approaches with longer-term interventions to reduce high levels of chronic vulnerability.
• Enhance community resilience using targeted disaster risk reduction approaches to reduce the impacts of disasters and ensure linkages with longer-term initiatives to reduce vulnerability.
• Targeted and sustained advocacy with the Government of Kenya (GoK) and development actors to further their engagement in resolving chronic vulnerability (specifically with regards to populations of the ASAL) and in supporting durable solutions.

The three-year humanitarian strategy provides an opportunity for partners to, through their projects, respond to immediate emergency priority needs while at the same time laying the foundations for early and eventual long-term recovery through mainstreaming disaster risk reduction approaches across all sector projects.

The Kenya Humanitarian Partners Team (HPT) committed to implementing the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Gender Marker in the Emergency Humanitarian Response Plan (EHRP) 2011+. To support this process, in September 2010, a GenCap Advisor worked with the HPT and the Sector Teams to support the effective application of a gender code to each of the projects to the EHRP. The codes will be monitored during implementation and adjusted during mid-year and end-of-year reviews.

A total of 92 projects have been selected for the 2011+ EHRP. Each project consists of an immediate, medium- and longer-term response strategy with a budget attached for 2011 actions and an indication of estimated budgets for actions in 2012 and 2013. The 2011+ EHRP requests US$ 525,827,794 for humanitarian response during 2011.